Emily Dickinson Lexicon

SUB'TER-FUGE, n. [Fr. from L. subter and fugio, to flee.]

Literally, that to which a person resorts for escape or concealment; hence, a shift; an evasion; an artifice employed to escape censure or the force of an argument, or to justify opinions or conduct. Affect not little shifts and subterfuges, to avoid the force of an argument. – Watts.